


breathing life into old bones (missions among stardust and mortality is overrated)

by ell (amywaited)



Category: Marvel
Genre: Cute, Fluff, Healing, NASA, handwavery everything tbf, handwavey lawsuits, handwavey science, handwavey space, operation rescue oppy, space, tony goes to space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 13:18:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17788130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amywaited/pseuds/ell
Summary: tony goes home to the stars and he finally feels whole





	breathing life into old bones (missions among stardust and mortality is overrated)

**Author's Note:**

> MISS U OPPY

“Fury, please-“

Nick sighs. Taps a pen on his desk. “Stark, I don’t have the funds, or, frankly, the desire, to send you and your team of merry men to  _ Mars  _ for a robot.”

“She’s not a robot!”

Fury stares at Tony, entirely unimpressed. “Next you’re going to tell me it’s family.”

“Well-“

“Stark, I don’t have time for this. Go home. Get some sleep and come back to me when you’re more coherent and logical,” Nick says. “Get that brain of yours in gear, else I might start to think you don’t have one.”

Tony frowns, mostly because Fury is being unnecessarily cold today. “Fine. When the Gods rain hellfire upon you for calling the rovers a waste of time, don’t come crying to me.”

“Jesus,” Fury says. He probably says more, but Tony’s already stalking out of the room, trying more than a little bit not to cry. 

 

***

 

JARVIS says, “sir,” sounding as emotional as his dulcet robot tones will let him, and Tony’s world kind of falls apart around him. The stream of data dancing around his fingertips blinks out in favour of a news article declaring the Opportunity Rover dead, and Tony feels his heart break. 

Dum-E prods at his ankle with the pointy end of a screwdriver, his head dipping in the closest approximation of sadness he can make. Tony balances a hand on the top of his arm. 

“We were expecting this,” he says, even though it doesn’t hurt any less, and expectancy doesn’t soothe the aches and pains. Tony isn’t so stupid to have not anticipated this, Oppy had always been kind of hanging on by an edge, going for longer than she should have done. “We knew it would happen, right?”

JARVIS just says, “sir,” again, and Dum-E drops the screwdriver and U makes the saddest beep Tony’s ever heard. 

“It’s just stardust,” Tony says. “Stardust and memories and nerve endings, right?”

“Not entirely,” JARVIS says, “but yes.”

“Then we each have a little piece of her, forever. And one day we’ll see her again,” he says. “Stardust and magic. That’s all.”

“It sounds so easy when you put it like that,” JARVIS says, even though Tony can still hear the tremor in his code that shouldn’t actually be there. 

“We’ll get her back,” Tony says. “We have the resources and the willing astronauts. We’ll find her and bring her home.”

“As if I would ever doubt you, sir,” JARVIS says. 

 

***

 

As a kid, as a seven year old with more dreams than his brain had had space for, Tony had always wanted to be an astronaut. Iron Man had felt as close as he’d get to that, until he met the Guardians, and then, suddenly, space felt very real, tangible. At the tips of his fingers, waiting for him. 

He thinks that he never really gave up on that childhood dream, and all the other thoughts and wishes that paved his way. It’s why he calls Peter Quill and says, “I need your ship.”

Quill, thank God, says, “Sure, man, I’ll drop round soon as,” because Quill is awesome like that and worryingly quick to support whatever half thought out idea Tony’s had. 

“Seriously? You’re not gonna say anything else?” Tony asks. 

Tony hears Quill shrug. “Nah.”

“Even though this isn’t an authenticated mission and both of us could land in jail because of it?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Quill says, and that’s kind of that. Tony doesn’t pretend to know (or understand) all of the dead end trails Quill’s been chasing throughout the galaxy, but he has a ship that’ll survive a trip to Mars and right now, that’s all Tony wants. 

“Huh. Thanks,” Tony says. 

 

***

 

The first time he steps aboard Quill’s ship feels like coming home. 

He knows enough about extraterrestrial technology to know that he probably won’t need oxygen when he’s in the ship, but he’s never been to Mars. No one has, so he has to pray and hope that whatever spacesuit Quill has on board will be enough to protect him on a planet no one’s ever gone to before. 

Tony brings an Iron Man suit just in case. It would be a foresight on his part not to, really. 

“You know the controls?” Quill asks. 

Tony nods. “Of course.” And even if he doesn’t, JARVIS does, and he wouldn’t dream of going without JARVIS. 

“Awesome. Have fun, man,” Quill says, and he disappears back to Gamora and his alien friends and Tony’s left alone, feeling one with the stardust. 

“Molecules,” he tells himself. “That’s all it is. Atoms and molecules.”

“Just like you, sir,” JARVIS says, and Tony feels like he’s doing something right. 

 

***

 

He doesn’t let himself think about what Nick would say (probably something really loud and explicit), or what Pepper or Steve would say (painful, inescapable guilt). He’ll be back soon, he’ll be back on Earth before they can blink. 

He takes off in May, leaving rain and dust behind him. Tony will write his name in the stars, dance through the same galaxies he dreamt about, and look into the future for the first time in his life. 

It sounds beautiful. It is. 

 

***

 

He lands some time in November. Tony lost track of days and started counting in planets. He opens his eyes and blinks stardust, and JARVIS says, with all the breathlessness a line of code can muster, “We did it, sir.”

Tony lets himself breath for what feels like the first time. The air out here is nonexistent, really, but at the same time, it feels like he’s breathing better than he has in years. “Yeah, we did, J. Yeah, we did.”

“I’ll plot out a route to Opportunity,” JARVIS says. 

Tony feels himself nod. It’s easy to forget out here, he thinks, surrounded by stars that don’t speak his language. Away from eyes that aren’t his own, he feels free. 

He feels at home. 

 

***

 

“Isn’t it beautiful?” He finds himself asking. He doesn’t know who he’s talking to, maybe himself. Maybe JARVIS, maybe all the ears that aren’t listening. 

“Yes, sir,” JARVIS replies anyway, “and I’ve located the Opportunity Rover.”

Tony feels the puzzle pieces of his heart shuffle. “Where?”

“Inputting route now,” JARVIS says. “Are you ready to go?”

“Of course I am,” Tony says. “I’ve been waiting for this.”

“As have I, sir.” The hub at the front of Quill’s ship lights up, a blue route mapped out. “And Dum-E requests a photo of you with the stars,” JARVIS says. “I’ve assured him we will comply.”

Tony finds himself grinning. This is his family, built from scrap metal, glued with moonlight and breathing. These are his old bones, and they are ones that’ll live again. 

“Miracle of life,” Tony says, even if he can’t remember his mouth moving. “Let’s go, J. Let’s bring her home.”

 

***

 

He re-enters Earth’s orbit a year or so later. He comes home with stars behind his eyes and he finally feels like he has stories to tell. 

Tony comes home and he’s greeted by his robots, and more than enough missed calls from Pepper and a lawsuit from Fury and NASA but he hasn’t ever felt more at peace. 

Space had filled his veins for so long and he’s finally returned the favour. Something about that is satisfying, fulfilling. 

He looks at Dum-E nuzzling his knee with a wrench and he looks at U and JARVIS and he looks at the pictures of Opportunity sitting on his computer screen and he finally feels whole. 

**Author's Note:**

> there is.. a bit of a story behind this fic.
> 
> long story short, my friend [eri](https://rattypants.tumblr.com) was like 'ell u should write a fic where tony rescues the curiosity rover' and obviously i was like 'FUCK YEAH' and then my friend [al](https://sleepyoldchild.tumblr.com) was making some [ART](https://sleepyoldchild.tumblr.com/post/182811537566/mittony-rescuing-opportunity-cause-we-all-know-he) based on nearly the exact same idea that eri told me to write, and i was like 'NO WAY' and al was like 'NO WAY' and i was like this is all coming together and here we are.
> 
> anyway, thank you for reading. my little space nerd heart cant scroll past a post about oppy without sobbing, so here. a collection of stardust and pretentious language, and i hope u enjoyed it. let me know what you thought! id love to know.
> 
> much love, ell.


End file.
